The Effects of Early vs. Late Cerebral Lesions on Verbal Learning and Memory in Children.

Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Isaacs, Elizabeth

The study sought to determine whether children with unilateral cerebral lesions sustained either prenatally or postnatally suffer from deficts in learning and memory skills and whether these differentiate left-sided from right-sided lesions. The subjects, 69 children ranging in age from 6 to 17 were divided into four patient groups: hemoplegic Ss classified on the basis of hemispheric side and age at injury (i.e., prenatal vs. postnatal groups). As controls, 16 normal children were matched for age and IQ to 16 Ss in the prenatal left hemisphere group. Ss completed neurological and neuropsychological evaluations, measures of somatosensory and motor function, and assessment of visuo-perceptual memory skills. Among conclusions were that Ss with left cerebral lesions demonstrated verbal memory deficits compared with controls and Ss with right cerebral injuries; the magnitude of verbal memory deficits was greater in left cerebral lesions acquired after birth and as early as 2 months of age; and that, in general, results did not support the notion of plasticity and language sparing, suggesting that even with very early lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere there are persistent verbal memory and learning deficits. (CL)